Is A Gym Membership Right For Me?

Advertisement

Despite its many benefits, if the demands of attending a gym do not fit into your lifestyle, your expensive gym membership may do more to hinder your health efforts than enhance them.

Therefore, before you purchase a gym membership consider whether or not it is right for you. If you suspect that a gym membership is not be right for you, you owe it to yourself to consider the option of investing in a home gym.

If your answer to any one of the following questions is “Yes”, purchasing a gym membership may not be right for you.

Do You Enjoy Exercising Alone?

The main benefit of a gym membership is the fact that it provides you with an opportunity to workout in a group.

Therefore, if you enjoy group fitness classes, purchasing a gym membership is a must for you. However, if you tend to shy away from group fitness classes and instead prefer to workout alone, investing in a home gym is a viable option for you.

Are You Internet Savvy?

The amount of fitness related information on the Internet is mind boggling.

If you choose to workout at home you can use this information to supply yourself with an endless array of workouts. However, this information is only useful if you know where to find it and how to recognize credible fitness websites.

Therefore, if you are Internet savvy enough to sift through this information and find what you need to create an effective workout regiment for yourself you should be able to workout efficiently at home.

Do You Have Obligations At Home?

Do you have small children at home?

Are you responsible for the home care of an elderly or disabled parent or spouse?

Do you work odd hours?

If any one of the above mentioned scenarios apply to your life, purchasing a gym membership may not be a practical option for you.

Though the presence of children and work/family obligations should never be used as an excuse for inactivity, they can make the act of consistently going to the gym impractical.

Do You Have Access To The Outdoors?

Not all of us have access to the outdoors.

For example, if you live in an urban area such as NYC you may not always have access to the outdoors. Yes! There are parks in NYC but these parks are often crowded and not always safe. Therefore, purchasing a gym membership, when you live in an urban area, is a practical move.

On the other hand, if you live in a rural area or a state such as Nevada or Texas, you are more likely to have easy access to hiking trails and vast national parks which help make outdoor activities more accessible.

Do You Enjoy The Outdoors?

Not all of us who have access to the outdoors enjoy being in the outdoors. So, before you decide whether or not a gym membership is right for you ask yourself the following questions:

Do you enjoy the outdoors?

Do you look forward to a long hike in the woods on a sunny day?

Or does the thought of jogging in the park invoke nothing but visions of allergy attacks, sunburns and bug bites?

If you enjoy the outdoors and outdoor activities, don’t burden yourself with a gym membership.

There is nothing more counterproductive than putting yourself in this situation:

You want nothing more than to be jogging in the park

But you’re feeling guilty about wasting money on a gym membership when you are not attending regularly

Are You Self Motivated To Workout?

Are you capable of motivating yourself to workout on a daily basis?

If you are capable of finding the motivation to workout on your own you do not need to join a gym in order to get in shape and stay in shape.

However, if you are not capable of self motivating yourself to workout you will benefit from the structure a gym membership has to offer.

A gym membership can help enhance and structure your weight loss and fitness efforts by:

Providing you with a workout schedule via regimented fitness classes

Provide you with a dynamic workout routine by offering various fitness classes

Helping you overcome weight loss or fitness hurdles by providing you with professional help

Providing you with the unique type of fitness motivation that only exists in group fitness settings

Advertisement

Paulin Soleyman is the founder and editor of The Underground Bootcamp. Her goal is to help everyday people live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives by sharing all that she knows about healthy living, nutrition, and fitness.

Related posts:

Comments

I went to the gym for years. Over those years I built myself a home gym (by that I mean bought a lot of equip – not a new room). I got tired of the BS at the gym – sharing equip, etc., people not respecting others, and so on. Once I knew I built the self-motivation I stopped and you know what almost a year later I have not dwindled in my workouts. I work out harder at home because I don’t have people staring at me when I’m grunting and groaning. No lunk alarm here. When you workout hard you DO grunt and groan or you aren’t really working.

Paulin Soleyman is the founder and editor of The Underground Bootcamp. Her goal is to help everyday people live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives by sharing all that she knows about healthy living, nutrition, and fitness. Read More…

Newsletter

Get new posts, practical health tips, and healthy recipes from my kitchen

Get my ebook "A Common Sense Approach To Healthy Living"

Enter your email address...

Your privacy is respected & your email address will never be shared or sold!